Cardiologist 'Trip' Casscells dies at 60

Dr. Ward "Trip" Casscells, 60, of Houston, died Sunday in Washington after fighting prostate cancer for years.

Dr. Ward "Trip" Casscells, 60, of Houston, died Sunday in Washington after fighting prostate cancer for years.

Photo: James Nielsen

Photo: James Nielsen

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Dr. Ward "Trip" Casscells, 60, of Houston, died Sunday in Washington after fighting prostate cancer for years.

Dr. Ward "Trip" Casscells, 60, of Houston, died Sunday in Washington after fighting prostate cancer for years.

Photo: James Nielsen

Cardiologist 'Trip' Casscells dies at 60

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Dr. S. Ward Casscells, a renowned Houston cardiologist whose practice ranged from hospital bedsides to public health advocate and researcher to the Iraqi front and Pentagon, died Sunday. He was 60.

Casscells succumbed to complications of prostate cancer at his home in Washington, friends said. He'd battled the disease for more than a decade, surviving thanks to ever-changing combinations of drugs.

"His legacy is a commitment to people's health, discoveries that made their lives safer, and patriot," said Dr. James Willerson, president of the Texas Heart Institute and a longtime friend and colleague of Casscells'. "He was a caring and brilliant physician-scientist who wanted to do great things to help others."

Casscells served as assistant secretary of defense for health affairs under President George W. Bush, a job that entailed turning around the department's then-struggling health and education system, which included more than 135,000 patients and 10 million patients in 900 clinics and hospitals in 100 countries. His office was at the Pentagon.

He was tapped for the job after joining the U.S. Army Reserves at 54, which he called "better late than never."

Belatedly continuing a tradition led by other Houston doctors who served in the military - notably Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley and "Red" Duke - Casscells said then that he could only "aspire to follow in their footsteps." He noted they "put it on the line" during their youth.

Casscells said he was motivated to join when his 8-year-old son asked if he, too, had fought for his country as they examined his combat surgeon father's World War II uniform. He said he was "filled with shame" to have to answer no.

Casscells went into the service after years of chemo­therapy and radiation treatment for metastatic prostate cancer, first diagnosed in 2001 and for which he'd typically take 50 pills a day. He said basic training "kicked my butt," but he prevailed and became a lieutenant colonel in the Medical Corps. He was shipped to Iraq, where he served a three-month tour of duty that included being caught in an ambush.

He was also deployed to both the Middle East and Asia to study the avian flu as part of an assignment to search for ways to protect troops from a potential outbreak.

Casscells, a graduate of Yale and Harvard Medical School, was recruited to the University of Texas Medical School at Houston in 1992. He went on to become chair of cardiology, conduct important research on arterial plaque that can lead to heart attacks and strokes and co-develop a series of disaster preparedness programs for the Houston area.

He also pushed for flu prevention through vaccine campaigns in an effort to reduce heart attack and stroke rates; and led Houston surveys on attitudes toward health care reform in the early months of President Barack Obama's push that culminated in the Affordable Care Act.

In 2009, he wrote the book "When It Mattered Most," a tribute to medics killed in Iraq and Afghani­stan.

About his decision to go into the Army at 54, Casscells said that while some people get more conservative, "I've gotten more adventurous."